Forum Discussion
Discussion - Set Aside Tabs and Warn on Close
Hi Insiders, we have received a lot of feedback about how you would like to close your tabs with the option of easily finding and reopening them later as you move between different workflows. Specifically, many of you are asking for the Tab Set Aside feature from the previous version of Microsoft Edge to be brought back. Some of you are also asking for a prompt to help avoid losing all your tabs such that you can’t find them again if you accidentally close the browser.
• Ask users if they want to close all tabs when they close a browser window
• Bring the tab set aside feature from the current version of Microsoft Edge
Each of these requests seem related to the fact that many of you have a lot of tabs open at once across many tasks and workflows. This leads to a situation where it can often be difficult to manage all of your tabs at the same time, and each additional tab makes it difficult to deal with all of the rest (e.g. tabs get smaller, harder to read each titles, many similar tab icons begin to blur together, etc.). But it can also be scary to close tabs and declutter your workspace, for fear of not being able to find things again later if you need to. We have definitely experienced this problem ourselves, observed it in our research and conversations with users, and agree it is an area where we want to invest in tools to help you be more productive across various tasks. We are actively investigating the best way to address this problem and would love your help and input as we proceed to make sure we get the experience just right.
We have looked through your feedback, and there are definitely some very valid reasons for why there was value in the Set Aside feature such as: Helping you pick up on a task later without leaving the tabs open when you aren’t using them, organizing your tabs into groups related to a similar task, and a short term home for more transient tasks that didn’t warrant saving in a permanent location such as Favorites.
We also reviewed feedback on the Set Aside feature itself from people actually using it in the previous version of Microsoft Edge, and there were some very valid critiques on how it worked and how it could be improved. For example, the Set Aside buttons being in a location where they were often accidentally clicked causing some to think their tabs had disappeared, requests to be able to set aside a subset of the currently open tabs rather than “all or nothing”, or requests to rename and personalize tab groups further to more easily find them again later.
The request for a prompt before closing the browser also feels related, because if people could always confidently find and reopen any of their previous tabs, then there would be less fear or concern about losing tabs if they are accidently closed. This would allow people to feel free to declutter and reduce the number of open tabs with no fear about finding them later if needed, and more easily focus on the subset of tabs they are working on now.
As we begin this journey of investigating how best to address these requests, we are asking for your help. Please continue to tell us more about your experience with Set Aside and closing tabs in Microsoft Edge, why these features are important to you in which types of tasks, what did and didn’t work for you about previous implementations, and how you would improve on these scenarios going forward.
337 Replies
Warn when closing multiple tabs
A misclick could wipe out important work/workflow. If I have set the browser to clear logins, cookies etc. at browser close, then accidentally closing the browser will necessitate logging in to those sites again. This is a very basic feature and it's disappointing to find it absent in Edge.
I'm all for Microsoft services and the only thing that is preventing me from using the new Edge is the lack of "Set Tabs Aside".
I find "Collection" extremely lackluster and tedious to use. No one should have to watch a tutorial on how to use a browser feature.
In Edge legacy, It's simple and intuitive. Just one click save and restore. Also, when I restore a session from it deletes its self. For "Collection" I have to manually delete the session. It almost feels like a regression.
I like that I can set names for collection but I prefer that set tabs aside automatically dates each session. The date is a constant reminder that you need to take action of these old tabs thus managing clutter/hoarding
In response to your question:
• Ask users if they want to close all tabs when they close a browser window.
By default this was present in old Egde so Yes
• Bring the tab set aside feature from the current version of Microsoft EdgeYes, this is a vital feature
Bill Gates once said “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.”
Collections is very useful for research or online shopping, but I agree, it is a terrible set aside tabs alternative. With collections, it's more like saving a link to an in-browser folder to access later, it doesn't actually move the tab. And then like you said, it is annoying to have to go manually delete the pages in the collection.
- Fully agree! And make it more like in old Edge - less clicks, more useful.
If "Set Aside Tabs" is going to be brought back, please make it a toggable feature. It is a very useful feature but I absolutely hate it whenever I have many tabs open in a 14" screen that the tabs become so skinny, and trying to navigate between multiple pages by clicking the arrow buttons on the tabs, especially to the first tab page will more often than not, set aside tabs. Hugely annoying.
As for the warning about closure of tabs when the close button is clicked with multiple tabs open, it's an absolute must. There had been multiple instances where I have multiple applications open and the computer responds slowly (almost crawling), and the windows desktop manager draws the application across the screen slowly too. Trying to close a certain application when all of them are fully-sized with a slow responding system caused unintended closures of new Chromium Edge browser as the system registers the click differently from what is shown on screen due to the desktop manager drawing the screen slowly.
- I never used Set tabs aside but when reading news stories I very often middle click other news stories to reaad after I finish what I am reading. Out of a habit I can't break, I click the X when done and without the warning I lose the articles I was going to read.
Elliot Kirk I'll be frank here. I don't need another Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to use. There's plenty of those browsers out there with the exact same feel to them, and the main reason I used the previous Microsoft Edge was because of its unique aesthetic. The sharp, square tabs, the customizability and the focused view it offered were just so pleasing to look at, as compared to the the typical rounded borders used in literally every other browser. I request you to at least implement the option to use sharp borders, just as you did in the Microsoft Launcher update.
That, and the other more prominent inconveniences other than just the loss of aesthetics in the new Edge.
Firstly, losing the Set Aside Tabs feature was something that distinguished this browser from the numerous other substitutes. Such a convenient feature meant that we could easily avoid cluttered workspaces and maintain focus on what was relevant. Imagine my surprise when, after updating Microsoft Edge, I completely lost all the tabs that I had set aside earlier. All those important tabs, just gone! Although I admit that I do have backups of all my browser histories, it is such a hassle to keep on referring to it, in hopes of finding the tabs I had set aside. I request you to find a way to bring back all the tabs that were lost from the Set Tabs Aside feature in the previous Edge, as I had used this feature rather excessively in the past.
While the Collections feature does come quite close to imitating the Set Aside Tabs feature, it's just not the same as when we could easily click the button on the top-left corner to shove away all the tabs for later reference.
Further, it is a tad bit annoying when you need to look at browser history in the new Edge, as it opens up a new tab displaying the list of sites visited. Again, I reiterate: I do not require another imitation of Google Chrome. The convenient display of browser history to the side of the same tab in the previous Edge was, among others, the crucial element as to why Edge was far superior to other browsers. It allowed users to refer back and forth among the sites that were open, and also directly compare the browsing history with the contents of an open tab for statistical purposes like noting similarities in websites visited across devices.
Moreover, the Close All Tabs? query dialog box that popped up whenever we attempted to close a window was, I believe, something which Microsoft first implemented in their Internet Explorer browser. No other browser had such a feature (Firefox recently installed it last year) in case a user accidentally attempted to close a window. Please bring back that feature as soon as possible.
To summarize, please stop imitating other browsers in hopes of catching on to the latest trends in the market. This newer Edge completely ignores all the characteristic elements of the previous Edge that made it popular in the first place, and also why I used Edge as my primary browser. I apologize if this reply sounded a bit harsh, but I believe acting against the wishes of a loyal consumer base will only further diminish Edge's popularity.
As much as I hate to say it, without these unique feature, Edge is just a dime a dozen among the countless other browsers, and I would have no further reason to keep on using it in the future.
Elliot Kirk If you end up bringing this feature back, please please please let us disable it from settings! I never wanted to use this feature but ended up using it a million times by accidentally clicking it.
In general having the option to disable things you do not want would be a great option for power users. Alternatively place features like this under the 3-dots menu or somewhere less critical areas.
- Warn on close or set tabs aside?
- This option is quite long and most support having it again, although it is already in collections, it would be good to return the buttons to the top left of the browser, or at least allow in the configuration to add it to be disabled by default so that the person you want can activate it. I hope they add only one button for that and to be able to see what is saved in collections.
- Any update on this?
So that I am clear -- the Set Aside Tabs feature is gone? I've lost all the tabs that I set aside and have relied upon? With no ability to get those back? That was the best, unique feature of Edge.
Wayleebabee wrote:So that I am clear -- the Set Aside Tabs feature is gone? I've lost all the tabs that I set aside and have relied upon? With no ability to get those back? That was the best, unique feature of Edge.
Hi, your tabs are Not lost
Regarding the Set Tabs Aside Feature
In my opinion it's a very useful productivity feature!
Maybe not useful for all but people who are actually working on research like a bunch of school kids or people who are working on different presentations, university students as myself organizing a whole bunch of PDFs from different modules/classes. I don't know any for example Surface user who doesn't use that feature.
Regular Office type users would also appreciate it but of course everything can be improved and I'm not saying it was perfect but what it did - it did great!
I think Edge should as the Microsoft Brand aims for go for the productivity side of things and do things smoothly different and be proud of that while still being a great browser for the average user who won't complain if some handy features are built in.
Thanks for opening this topic,
greetings
Elliot Kirk ok, there are plenty of suggestions. Which one you chose to work on?
